1. Field of Art
The disclosure generally relates to the field of optical systems, and more particularly to applying a blur filter to an image based on depth information from a 3D camera to simulate the effects of an optical system configured to capture a shallow depth-of-field image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Before the rise in popularity of digital cameras, most photographs and movies were captured by analog cameras on film. Since the sensors of such analog cameras are typically larger than image sensors in digital cameras, analog cameras required a larger lens and optical system to properly focus an object on the film. The larger optical systems associated with analog cameras could be configured to capture shallow depth-of-field images where only a portion of the image is in focus while the rest of the image is blurred. The blurring that occurs naturally with these larger optical systems was useful to camera operators because it could be used to draw a viewer's attention to a single in-focus portion of an image. For example, a camera could be configured so that an actor in the foreground of a scene would be in focus against a blurred background of trees.
Since the image sensors of digital cameras are not subject to the physical limitations of film, digital sensors have gradually decreased in size as new advancements are made in digital imaging technology. While the smaller size of digital image sensors and their associated optical systems has allowed for the development of digital cameras that are more portable and versatile than film cameras, the smaller sensor size also prevents digital cameras from capturing shallow depth-of-field images. In other words, it is difficult to configure the optical systems of small digital cameras to achieve the same artistic blurring that draws a viewer's attention to a single portion of an image.